Successful real estate agents live a great life. Most have the essential toys that are typically seen as signs of financial success including the latest model imported cars, Rolex watches, and spacious personal residences in the most desirable neighborhoods. Even more importantly, most will tell you that they absolutely love what they do and feel that being a real estate agent is in their blood. It's a source of excitement with a non-stop array of challenges and problem-solving that yields significant psychological and monetary rewards.
You won't find many top real estate agents that consider themselves shy - quite the contrary, these entrepreneurs feel confident and capable. Real estate sales is a fantastic profession if you have the courage and tenacity to place all of your chips on the table and completely dedicate yourself to growing each and every day. Many people think that the process of how to become a real estate agent is a difficult one, but I'm here to tell you that it isn't. If you commit to these four beginning steps, you'll be well on your way to an incredible career.
1) Read several books on persuasion, influence and negotiating. First and foremost, you are going to need to develop a sort of sales charisma. You'll want to develop a charming, confident personality. You don't need to be born a 'people person' or a 'smooth talker'. These skills can be developed with proper practice. Educating yourself is crucial. The time that you spend developing an influential personality will be invaluable in the future as you get into deals. A good start for a complete novice is 'How to Win Friends and Influence People,' by Dale Carnegie. It's an old classic that still has great value in today's world of sales. You'll also want to explore YouTube videos and books from the master of motivation, Tony Robbins. Just do a google search and you'll find plenty of material from this living legend. If you commit to making influence and motivation training a part of your daily life, you'll notice that your confidence will begin to soar.
2) Purchase the right equipment for a cutting-edge mobile office. You plan on working hard in your new career, right? So be sure to leverage technology to work faster and smarter. You'll want a few of these essentials to do so. Start by upgrading your phone to the latest model for taking the best photos and videos. The new iPhone 7 Plus has an excellent camera set-up with a huge display that is going to come in handy for taking photos and videos of the properties that you will be showing. You'll want to learn the basics of the image improvement tools within the phone like light, color and saturation enhancements. The best home images are lit well with strong color saturation to make them feel most lifelike. Upgrade your laptop to a fast model with a large screen. A top real estate agent is an expert at researching properties through the MLS and various other online systems. Get to be a researching pro by having comfortable, reliable equipment, so that you can spend the time that you need to spend online.
3) Acquire the software that is going to help you stay highly efficient. Use Evernote to write a journal entry for every work day talking about what you accomplished the day before and what you plan to accomplish with the current day. Do this every morning religiously as a routine. Evernote is a great system for task and goal management. Get acclimated with google docs, especially the spreadsheet and word processor pages; you'll be able to organize your data and share with clients, colleagues, and assistants seamlessly. Select an email marketing software system and master it. You can use MailChimp, Constant Contact, iContact, they all provide the same types of service, but each has their specialties.
4) Study hard for your real estate exam and pass your state test. This may seem obvious, but you must dedicate yourself to mastering the material in your class. These days, you can take courses online or in a physical class. Choose whatever style of learning you prefer. Strong self-starters love the freedom of taking the classes online, while those that love structure and feedback from a real, live person are best suited for the physical classroom. Dedicate a certain amount of hours each and every day to studying for your test. Think about real estate first thing in the morning and last thing at night before bed. Make real estate the most important thought in your mind as your go through your training. Once you pass your classroom test, it's wise to purchase the State Test Q&A guides that the various schools offer. By going over the similar state exam questions over and over again, your mind will subconsciously adapt to the questions that you'll get on the test. You'll feel more confident and will get sharper every day.
If you are wondering how to become a realtor, follow the exact steps above, get licensed, and then pay your dues to the National Association of Realtors. It's that simple. You'll then want to find the best real estate company to work for. Interview, multiple brokers and select the one that you feel will give you the most personal attention. Don't get seduced by a big name firm with a less than stellar manager. Instead, select the company that you feel will communicate with you smoothly and most efficiently. It also helps a great deal if they have a strong web presence with their company website that generates leads that can be handed out to you.
The most important thing that you can do is to commit. Make the decision to become a real estate agent and then give it every bit of intellectual and emotional energy that you can muster. Live with passion and follow your dreams. You can do it!
Author Kaya Wittenburg is the CEO of Sky Five Properties, based in Miami Beach, Florida.
